GeSCI

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ICT in Education, Rwanda Theoneste MUTS
INDASHYAKA Minister of State in charge of Primar
y Secondary Education
21st May 2008

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Rwanda Reality Challenges
Secondary Grade 7-12 0.24 Million Children in 65
0 schools (9000teachers)
Primary Grade 1-6 1.4 Million Children in 2323 s
chools
(30,000teachers)
Primary Grade 1-6 2 Million Children in 2323 sch
ools
Teacher student ratio of 170 in primary
Teacher student ratio of 132 in secondary
Trilingual system Kinya-rwanda / French / English
9.2 Million Population, 26,340 sq.km land area
12.4 land with forests Literacy level is 64.9,
GDP of USD 2.5 billion Annual GDP growth of 5-6

Net enrolment of 10 in secondary education and
1.7 in tertiary

• Shortage of qualified Teachers
• Shortage of printed books
• Only 39 completes primary
• education

• 45.3 population is less than
• 15 years of age

Gender ratio is a concern at Tertiary level
(girls to boys ratio of 0.4) Source of informati
on from http//www.mineduc.gov.rw/ and World Bank
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Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) 2006-10

• This ESSP marks the forth update
• Emerging priorities of the nine year basic
  education policy is
  
• integration of science and technology
• ESSP is focused to contribute the economic
  development and
  
• poverty reduction (EDPRS)
• It underpins the concepts of universal access
  and equity
  
• The ESSP is derived from the long term strategy
  and financial
  
• framework (LTSFF)
• We will continue to work with our partners to
  ensure we provide
  
• a world-class education system for all
  persons in Rwanda
  
• ESSP as the way ahead for education development
  in Rwanda
  
• All stakeholders to use as a first point of
  reference
  

Science and technology in education is emerging
as a key priority area
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ICT as a tool for Teaching Leaning in achiev
ing the ESSP
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Efforts initiated by MoE

• National Information Communication
  Infrastructure Plan 2006-10
  
• Infrastructure (10 PCs /school) deployed in 400
  secondary schools
  
• Connectivity is being established 83 schools
  connected so far
  
• 3000 teachers training in partnership with
  Microsoft
  
• GIS pilot initiative started in 10 schools in
  partnership with ESRI
  
• NePAD e- Schools initiative in 6 schools
• OLPC pilot in one primary school
• EMIS packaged in being developed
• Dialogue initiated with many partners for ICT
  in Education
  
• MoU signed with GeSCI (founded by UN ICT Task
  Force) and the
  
• advisor for ICT in Education has moved into
  Rwanda (recently)

The Educational Management Development is another
key priority area
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Going forward
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Addressing the critical factors

• Teacher involvement
• ICT in Education as an integral part of
  teachers pedagogy and
  
• classroom process
• Dedicated Government resource
• Prescribed infrastructure and hardware
• Process guidance and ongoing support
• Digital learning material (relevance, quality
  quantity)
  
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Research and documentation
• Partnerships

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How OLPC can assist in achieving the ESSP and
Critical Success factors?
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Positives of OLPC

• The idea and ambition is very appreciable
• Packaged with all possible features Specific
  to hardware
  
• The video and photo clarity is good
• Compact, good looking and less weight
• Attractive capital cost (USD 100/- Per Laptop)
• Meets most of the Environmental Regulatory
  requirements
  
• Focused to support education.

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Discussion points

• Service back up at the filed level including
  components and AMC
  
• Addressing the breakage/hardware
  failure/software problems
  
• (almost 50 of the OLPCs are not functioning
  in the pilot school)
  
• The framework for classroom management and
  integration of ICT
  
• into teaching learning process
• Battery back up Enhancing the duration of
  back up
  
• OLPC hangs if the children open couple of
  applications together
  
• Reliability of open source OS and support
  services
  
• Training and capacity building teachers
  administrators
  
• Curricular and Co-Curricular content in
  Regional Languages
  
• Upgrading / replacement and disposal
• Possibility working as partner with Global
  Education Alliance

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Some other challenges
Computer uptime
Power availability
Infrastructure cost
Languages and trained teachers
Monitoring
The Physical Geography for access and service is
an another challenge
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Thank you
Let us leverage the potential of ICT to enhance
the quality of learning in Rwanda of course
with your support